Introducing Videos in the Flash Format

Note: Please let us know if you have any problems viewing the video. Thanks!

We recently mentioned that Tammy's website would be undergoing some updates and changes to make her site better and more accessible. Today I get to introduce one of the proposed changes: Flash Videos. Why Flash Videos? The primary reasons are accessibility and flexibility.

In regards to accessibility we have had a number of comments about users being unable to watch videos (currently in WMV format). Our current digital camera captures video in the MOV format (Apple QuickTime) and the current media application we use to compose the videos (Windows Movie Maker 2) outputs another proprietary format (Microsoft's WMV). The first problem is that WMV and MOV files are limited to the Windows and Mac operating systems for most users. Because of this there is a limited install base (84% for WMP and 66% for QuickTime). Flash resolves this for the most part. 97% of web browsers have Flash installed and the Flash player is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux operating systems. With Google Videos and YouTube throwing their weight behind the Flash format for videos it has become an unofficial standard. We received a number of emails about movie format issues from Mac and Linux users so this should make the most people happy :)

Another reason we are going with the Flash format is because it allows a little more control on our end. We can actually embed the video right into a page--which results in more people watching the video. People are much more likely to push a large "PLAY!" button than a small text link to a media file you download and then view in the media player of your choice. Austhetically, it is nice having a physical "object" on the screen space where the video plays. The embedded Flash player we are using allows us some room to grow in the future with playlists, streaming, thumbnails, autoplay/buffering options, etc.

The only real drawbacks are file conversion and compression (an extra step for every video) and the code to embed a Flash video into a page is a little more complicated than a simple text link to the media file. Not really a big deal as I have been working on the videos for Tammy, so she won't have to make extra time for videos that take away from working on her website :) With no further ado here is Tammy's Ingenuitea Review in Flash format.

Please let us know if you have any problems with this video. Thanks!

Tammy's Ingenuitea Review

Joshua's blog | printer friendly version

Worked wonderfully!

Submitted by shorty on Mon, 2007-03-05 00:44.

Thanks for going through the trouble for us. It looks like you are doing a great job!
Shorty

I have one just like it!

Submitted by Harmony on Mon, 2007-03-05 10:16.

But it's a different brand. My mother-in-law gave it to me... It was bought in Korea, but the writing on the box is Chinese. So far I've brewed buckwheat and barley tea in it, but I don't have any looseleaf black or green tea as of now.

I agree with you -- it's an amazing and wonderful contraption! :)

Cool video

Submitted by Court on Mon, 2007-03-05 10:38.

and video feature. I never had a problem veiwing your other videos but the convenience of this one is superior to your others. I'll look forward to hearing and seeing Tammy more often on here. :)

I can see why you'd choose

Submitted by asourceofjoy on Mon, 2007-03-05 12:40.

I can see why you'd choose to switch to Flash format - sounds like it'd have a lot of advantages for most of your site visitors, and the format looks great (very professional)!

The main (perhaps only) drawbacks will be for those of us who are on dialup. Streaming audio/video formats are really difficult for us to access. It's usually possible to view the file, but the buffering times are so long that I have to turn down the sound and let it load up in the background while I'm doing something else, then go back and see it. This has several disadvantages to directly downloading a MOV/WMV file to my harddrive: (1) I can't restart the download process if my connection is interrupted part way through (I have a download manager program to enable this when downloading non-streaming files); (2) I can't keep the file on my computer for later viewing - when the browser window is closed, the temporarily downloaded file is also no longer accessible.

I know that those of us on dialup are an increasingly small group, so I don't expect (or even advise) you to cater to us...just wanted to give a little feedback from my perspective, since that's what you were asking for. Please continue to do whatever is best for everyone and most efficient for you guys. It's really exciting to see how the site is continuing to grow! :-)

Thanks Abigail

Submitted by Joshua on Mon, 2007-03-05 13:10.

Thanks for the input Abigail. I hadn't really thought of dial-up users as a short video (~7MB, 2 minutes or so) takes an hour to download and a longer video (like Tammy's pizza making tutorial) is 40MB and would take 5 or so hours for those on dial-up to download! Eeek! And that is after all the compression :(

Alas there is some hope: The media is outputted into a nice/compressed WMV format. All we need to do is upload the WMV file along with the FLV and offer an alternate link for those who would prefer a non-Flash format... or we could just send you a DVD with all the vidoes :P At some point we may have some pre-loaders on the movies to offset the bandwidth/space (one of the other reasons the Flash videos are nice as you can dynamically alter these) but for now I see no reason not to throw the WMVs up as well. :)

Thanks for the feedback Abigail :)

I'm not sure how rare a view

Submitted by asourceofjoy on Mon, 2007-03-05 21:19.

I'm not sure how rare a view I hold amongst dialup users, but if I want to see/hear something I don't think much at all about downloading files up to 7-8 MB. :-) I put it in the download manager program and let it download while I'm doing other stuff; an hour or two passes quickly enough. Beyond that size I have to *really* want it, LOL -- though I have downloaded files up to 37 MB or so before.

Having an alternate WMV link sounds like a great idea, if it's not much more trouble for you and if others may also appreciate it. :-) I sure wish YouTube offered that option; so many people are hosting videos there these days and it's a real hassle for me to try to watch them.

Keep up the great work! :-D

Video clips/formatting

Submitted by Tammy on Tue, 2007-03-13 23:48.

Harmony, I reeeeaaally enjoy mine! :) It's SO convenient! :)

Thanks for all the video feedback, everyone. :) I wish it weren't so time-intensive to make a video clip, because I'd love to do lots of them! Slowly, over time, we hope to add to the collection here. :)